Apple Scientists!

This morning we conducted our apple experiment!  Kindergarten decided that we would test whether or not adding certain things to apples affects how slowly or quickly the apple will decay.  This experiment came from our read aloud, Pumpkin Jack, yesterday.  Kindergarten decided on apples because we have a lot of leftover apples from snack.  Kindergarten decided to put lemon juice on a cut apple and a whole apple, a cut apple in water, a cut apple in oil and a cut apple in a ziploc bag.  After that we discussed how scientists use what they know to make predictions about what they think will happen to their experiments over time.  Here is a chart of our predictions:

The apples will stay out and we will record the changes we notice over time with both words and photographs.

Mrs. Guilmette visited for Guidance this morning and brought her special breathing buddies with her!  Students had a wonderful time relaxing their bodies and practicing taking big belly breaths.  Mrs, Guilmette taught us that belly breaths can help us calm our bodies when we are angry, sad, or scared.

In Math today I introduced the ten frame.  A ten frame is used to build number sense, help students gain fluency in quickly recognizing 'how many?' and to better understand the strategies of composing and decomposing numbers.  After practicing as a whole group students had a chance to use our new iPad or the computer to play a 10 Frame game:  http://illuminations.nctm.org/activity.aspx?id=3565 which you can access at home.

This afternoon for reader's workshop we read a VERY silly book Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle and all had the opportunity to laugh together.